Roofs, dormers and chimneys

Fruit Street Historic District Commission decides

A change to the roof seen from the street, its shape, material or features, is reviewed. Before any building or demolition permit, you need one of three certificates: of appropriateness (the work suits the district), of non-applicability (nothing reviewable is involved), or of hardship. The Commission decides within 14 days whether the work is reviewable, holds a hearing within 45 days, and decides within 60 days of filing; if it doesn’t act in time, a certificate of hardship issues automatically. It looks only at what can be seen from a public street, park or the river, never at interiors.

Code ch. 16 §16-2; Code ch. 16 §§16-6–16-8; M.G.L. c. 40C

Design guidelines guidance

The 2008 guidelines ask that the roof’s shape and slope be kept and that it be re-covered in the same material and color; architectural asphalt shingles in a matching color can be approved without a hearing.

Code ch. 16 §§16-6–16-8; M.G.L. c. 40C

Historical Commission unclear

Whether the citywide demolition delay also applies inside the Fruit Street district is not settled by either ordinance: chapter 16 requires a certificate before any demolition permit, and the delay ordinance has no carve-out for the district. Ask the Zoning Administrator.

§5-308(A)–(G); ch. 2 §2-103; Zoning §XXVII-C.3 and §XXVIII-C.3 (the carve-outs); Code ch. 16 §§16-6–16-8; M.G.L. c. 40C

Zoning Administrator determines

Re-roofing in the same material and color is ordinary maintenance and excluded.

Zoning §XXVII-D.2, 13; Zoning §XXVII-C.3, §XXVII-E; §X-H.5

Planning Board decides

A change of roofing material, a new dormer, skylight, roof deck or rooftop equipment, or removing a chimney on a historic building is an alteration. On a historic building (individually listed on the National Register, or contributing in the 1984 nomination), this needs a Downtown Overlay special permit before any building permit, judged against the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards. Before applying, the owner gives the Historical Commission photographs, the inventory forms and the plans at least 30 days ahead; the Commission sends the Board an advisory report.

Zoning §XXVII-D.8, §XXVII-F.7; §XXVIII-D.3, §XXVIII-E.7; Zoning §XXVII-D.2, 13; Zoning §XXVII-C, E, F; §X-H.7–8; Zoning §XXVII-F.4.b–c, F.5.a.iii; ch. 2 §2-104

Design rules what the Board looks for

Dormers meet the same setback, height and pitch tests as the dormer exemption elsewhere in the city, and the Board consults the Cambridge dormer guidelines (1996); skylights lie in the plane of the roof; historic chimneys are kept.

§5-308(H); Zoning §XXVII-F.5.g.iv–viii; Zoning §XXVII-C, E, F; §X-H.7–8

Zoning Administrator determines

Downtown review doesn’t reach everything. Excluded, on a written determination: ordinary maintenance or replacement in kind (no change in design, material or appearance; a new paint color counts as in kind); work on a building or feature that isn’t historic; and alterations (not demolition, not new construction) of a one- or two-family house whose lot is in one of the residential (R-1, R-2, R-3) pockets downtown. Work excluded from downtown review falls under the demolition delay ordinance instead, if it is “demolition” of a building 75 or more years old.

Zoning §XXVII-C.3, §XXVII-E; §X-H.5

No historic review not reviewed

Re-roofing on the same shape is not reviewed. Equipment out of sight of any public way is excluded.

§5-307 exclusion (i); Zoning §XXVIII-D.2, E.1; §5-307

Historical Commission decides whether to delay

The DCOD leaves roof work to the Historical Commission, whether or not the building was contributing in 1984. On a building 75 or more years old (100 for an accessory building), any change to the roofline counts as demolition under the demolition delay ordinance, even if no wall comes down: a change of pitch or ridge, adding or removing a tower or cupola, a dormer that misses the setback rules below, or anything without a roof (a deck, a widow’s walk, a chimney, a railing) that rises above the roof or sits within 3 feet of the edge of a flat roof. Hearing within 30 days; a delay of up to 18 months if the Commission finds the building preferably preserved.

Code of Ordinances ch. 5 art. X §5-307; §5-307; Zoning §XXVIII-C.3; art. X; Zoning §XXVIII-C.3, E

No review exempt

A dormer (or a roof deck set into the roof) is exempt from the demolition delay if it meets every one of these: set back at least 1 ft 6 in from the wall below where it runs parallel to the ridge, and at least 3 ft 6 in from a wall below that runs across it; no higher than the ridge; not a flat roof (a shed dormer’s pitch can vary; a gabled dormer matches the main roof, except on a gambrel or mansard); and no windows in its side walls. Miss one and it is a roofline change.

§5-308(H); Zoning §XXVII-F.5.g.iv–viii

Note unsettled

The City’s quick guide says that when a project already needs a DCOD special permit, the Zoning Board also takes over its roofline changes. The ordinance itself keeps roofs, roof pitch and dormers with the Historical Commission, with no exception. Ask how the two are being run together.

Zoning §XXVIII-C.3; art. X

No historic review not reviewed

New roofing on the same roof shape is not a roofline change. Antennas and other mechanical equipment out of sight of any public way (on the rear slope, say) are excluded outright.

§5-307 exclusion (i)

Historical Commission decides whether to delay

On a building 75 or more years old (100 for an accessory building), any change to the roofline counts as demolition under the demolition delay ordinance, even if no wall comes down: a change of pitch or ridge, adding or removing a tower or cupola, a dormer that misses the setback rules below, or anything without a roof (a deck, a widow’s walk, a chimney, a railing) that rises above the roof or sits within 3 feet of the edge of a flat roof. Hearing within 30 days; a delay of up to 18 months if the Commission finds the building preferably preserved.

Code of Ordinances ch. 5 art. X §5-307; §5-307; §5-308(A)–(G); ch. 2 §2-103; Zoning §XXVII-C.3 and §XXVIII-C.3 (the carve-outs)

No review exempt

A dormer (or a roof deck set into the roof) is exempt from the demolition delay if it meets every one of these: set back at least 1 ft 6 in from the wall below where it runs parallel to the ridge, and at least 3 ft 6 in from a wall below that runs across it; no higher than the ridge; not a flat roof (a shed dormer’s pitch can vary; a gabled dormer matches the main roof, except on a gambrel or mansard); and no windows in its side walls. Miss one and it is a roofline change.

§5-308(H); Zoning §XXVII-F.5.g.iv–viii